Corpus Christi procession hymns
  • PLTT
    Posts: 150
    I'm looking for some good rousing (as opposed to more meditative) hymns for our parish Corpus Christi procession this year. Many of the traditional texts (Ave verum, Adoro Te, Panis Angelicus) and vernacular pieces (Sweet Sacrament Divine, O Bread of Heaven) will be sung at Adoration preceding the procession.

    For the procession, I'm looking for hymns with tunes similar to St. THEODULPH (i.e. All glory laud and honour) for Palm Sunday, or "We stand for God", or "Hail Redeemer King Divine", or even "O Jesus we adore thee".......

  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,414
    The Corpus Christi sequence.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    In addition to "Lauda Sion Salvatorem" (Corpus Christi sequence), the LU suggests "Te Deum" - whose English translation as a hymn is "Holy God, we praise thy name". The traditional setting to GROSSER GOTT usually truncates the text after four stanzas (as opposed to the eight in Clarence A. Walworth's translation (7 stanzas, with an interpolated penultimate stanza by Hugh Thomas Morley). My own setting, with all eight stanzas, should be sufficiently "rousing' and is easy to sing (even with descants, if you have the forces). Both a congregation SATB score and a full score (SATB + descants) are attached, along with an audio file.

    Giffen-Holy God we praise thy name.pdf
    99K
    Giffen-Holy God we praise thy name-full.pdf
    109K
    Giffen-Holy God we praise thy name-full-snd.mp3
    5M
    Thanked by 3M. Jackson Osborn Liam ServiamScores
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,092
    Moving in procession in open air/outdoors, the acoustic is such that it's best to have music with a strong rhythmic center that does not readily dissipate from the front to end of the procession. GROSSER GOTT and ST THEODULPH work well as an examples of that in practice.
    Thanked by 3ServiamScores hilluminar DavidOLGC
  • ServiamScores
    Posts: 2,887
    And to add to what Liam said: it needs to be something that people know well. It is surprisingly difficult to get people to participate in singing during a procession. Anything other than what is already quite familiar to them is bound to be weak. At least, this has always been my experience.
    Thanked by 6Liam hilluminar Anna_Bendiksen Joseph Michael LauraKaz DavidOLGC
  • GerardH
    Posts: 461
    Guide me, O thou great Redeemer?
  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,782
    Christus Vincit, also Litanies work well, we sing The Sacred Heart one.
    Thanked by 2Joseph Michael M. Jackson Osborn
  • ServiamScores
    Posts: 2,887
    We did the laudes regia (Christus Vincit) last year, and that was one of the things that worked surprisingly well. Of course, most of it is carried by cantors, so that helps.
    Thanked by 3tomjaw M. Jackson Osborn DavidOLGC
  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,782
    Tomorrow is the Greater Litanies, when we have had processions on either this feast or the Rogations, the Litany is doubled. It is amazing how two cantors leading and choir members spaced in the congregation encourage a good sound from the congregation. Of course we sing in Latin and the volume is incredible... The Christus vincit is another that is easy for a congregation to pick up.
    Thanked by 1DavidOLGC
  • liampmcdonough
    Posts: 297
    You can sing Verbum supernum prodiens, from which we draw "O Salutaris" to whatever LM tune you like
    Thanked by 2tomjaw DavidOLGC
  • Chaswjd
    Posts: 268
    You could use a metrical setting of Psalm 81. Start with verse 17 which is the introit for the day and then continue with verse one and following verses as needed. You could set it to whatever rousing hymn tune you wanted.
  • Nisi
    Posts: 153
    Has anyone put together a sheet of hymns for a Corpus Christi procession, with, say, Lord, Who at Thy First Eucharist, Jesus, My Lord, My God, My All, O Lord, I Am Not Worthy, Pange lingua, etc.? I sure could use one, ready to go! With thanks to the wonderful Forum!
    Thanked by 1DavidOLGC
  • PhilipPowell
    Posts: 116
    Here's the procession packet I put together for our parish: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18JlHMSECtmCDStzOnPN6qjN2ZoMgoPInfkfsYXrmTxc/edit?usp=sharing
    Thanked by 1DavidOLGC
  • DavidOLGCDavidOLGC
    Posts: 88
    PhilipPowell 4:25PM
    Posts: 82
    Here's the procession packet I put together for our parish:


    Thanks - and those are all hymns we commonly use at our church.
  • PLTT
    Posts: 150
    Does anyone know the source of the melody of this rendition of the Corpus Christi Sequence sung by this Anglo-Catholic church? The refrain "blessed and praise be Jesus Christ" is clearly derived from the Lauda Ierusalem Dominum....

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkLOS5RW-1c [scroll to the 1 hr 11 min mark or so]
  • davido
    Posts: 942
    PLTT based on their music list https://asms.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/music-list_2022-06-01_2022-06-30.pdf it would appear to be the hymn Come sing the praise of Jesus by Jack Copley Winslow http://ehymnbook.org/CMMS/hymnSong.php?id=pd09047 which appears to be published in England to the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic. Fortunately, the folks in your video found a more worthy melody to which to sing it.
  • DL
    Posts: 80
    The tune is Lauda Sion by GF Cobb, and it’s in New English Praise, the supplement to the New English Hymnal (no 664). The tune gets longer as the verses do towards the end, which means (as once happened to me) if you’re playing from a well-intentioned photocopy which turns out only to have the shorter version you have to busk a little… The interpolated refrain which is not in the hymn book is Lauda Jerusalem, and was I suspect borrowed from its use at Lourdes.
    Thanked by 1PLTT
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